Risk Analysis:

The establishment of tax policy is complex. It is not sufficient to only look at one determining factor such as tax rates or property value for purposes of meaningful comparison. The proper comparison of tax burdens across municipalities needs to be based on similar sized properties within municipalities that provide similar services. As always, City Council is also cautioned to carefully weigh the impacts of any decisions to change existing tax policy to ensure that any short-term outcomes are not outweighed in terms of longer term implications which could be much harder to reverse. Administration is recommending that there be no change to the tax ratios which will form the determination of the 2020 tax rates. Should City Council request that additional information be provided prior to accepting this recommendation, direction would need to be very clear in terms of what changes should be presented. Administration will be commencing the process for the preparation of the 2020 Final Tax bills. A delay in the setting of the 2020 property tax rates could impact the timing for the release and mailing of the tax bills.

Financial Matters:

Based upon the information contained in this report, Administration will begin the process to prepare and mail the 2020 Final Property tax bills which will levy a total of $426.6 million based upon a total tax rate as identified in the following chart.

Tax Class	2020 Municipal Rate	2020 Education Rate	2020 Total Rate	2019 Total Rate	% Change in the Rate
Residential	0.01622679	0.00153000	0.01775679	0.01789394	-0.77%
Farmland	0.00405670	0.00038250	0.00443920	0.00447349	-0.77%
New Multi- Residential	0.01622679	0.00153000	0.01775679	0.01789394	-0.77%